China Biotech Week in Review: New Deals in China Life Science
ChinaBio Today submits:
Three of big pharma’s biggest companies, Merck (NYSE: MRK), Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), have banded together to create an Asian not-for-profit company that will construct a pharmacogenomic cancer database in Singapore (see story). The database will compile its information using 2,000 tissue samples from patients with lung and gastric cancer. The information will be made available to researchers with the goal of developing new treatments for gastric and lung cancers, which are prevalent in Asia.
China’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced Friday that the central government had authorized the spending of 37 billion RMB ($5.5 billion) as part of its larger 850 billion RMB healthcare reform, announced last year (see story). The new money will help give medical care access to lower-income citizens.